Accessories

illy Anish Kapoor 2 Espresso Cup Gift Set

Pure depth, like a bottomless pit. Or an illusionary surface, as if the hole werenít there at all. Or else light reflecting around, or maybe just pure darkness. Man has always known that looks can be deceiving: our visual apparatus inevitably tries to structure our field of perception, inventing reassuring figure/background ratios. Itís often wrong and at times does not understand. Thatís why we need to be aware of first impressions.

Anish Kapoor has focused his work on our sensorial limits, using them not just as physiological and psychological fact, but also as a metaphor for our way of perceiving existence. He applies this thinking whether he is inventing a gigantic architectural sculpture or a tiny object. This time around he has played with the illy cup, changing one part and subverting its use: by placing the platinum saucer with the hole in the centre on the top of the cup, which is also platinum, an impression of diffuse light is created whose dimensions are hard to fathom. The flickering reflections prevent the hollow space from being perceived instinctively.

So, a cup, like all of Kapoorís work, moves from art to life and synthesizes in form some painful mental states such as doubt, ambivalence and error, but also happier states such as mystery, surprise and the desire to understand what we are looking at and to discover who we are.